Todd Wollard believes he has found the winning recipe for success for his district’s food service program. He starts with a generous amount of treating students as customers and combines it with equal parts love, creativity and common sense.  

“Our entire goal is to do what’s best for our students,” said Wollard, food service and human resources coordinator for Prairie View Unified School District 362. “They deserve to get quality meals.” 

After joining the Prairie View staff in 2023 after 30 years in sales, Wollard said he quickly realized the food service program, which had a contract with a private company for the district’s meals, needed an overhaul.   

“Looking at it from a business perspective, I thought we could do things differently,” he said. “If it’s operated correctly, the food service program could be totally self-sustaining.”  

With the goal of increasing the school meal participation rate with better food, Wollard said he approached Chris Johnson, Prairie View’s new superintendent at the time, and received permission to explore existing funding options for participants of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). He began surveying students to determine their food preferences and started incorporating more of those items into the school meals.  

The district cancelled the contract with the private company and Wollard was able to secure funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Beef for Schools,” a grant program administered by the Kansas State Department of Education to locally source beef products for school meals.  

“That money feeds right back into the pocket of the community,” he said, adding that he uses two meat producers and a produce provider in the La Cygne area in eastern Kansas. “If we increase our participation, that allows us to buy more beef products and local produce. It creates a complete circle. That’s the model we’re using and so far, it’s been pretty successful.” 

After his experienced staff of cooks and bakers started making more meals from scratch, Wollard said the participation rate for students and staff eating the school meals skyrocketed. He said a higher participation rate allows for a higher federal reimbursement for the local products the district uses for meals. 

“You can get to the point of having a completely sustainable program without having to dip into the district’s general fund to sustain the program,” he said. “It benefits the kids; it benefits the small businesses; and it benefits the district.” 

Cheeseburgers are the most popular menu item for Prairie View’s students, Wollard said, adding they also use the local beef for taco meat and burritos. The food service staff has even started making its own bread and cinnamon rolls. Moreover, the students are “cleaning out” the salad bar nearly every day they feature local vegetables. 

Chris Johnson, superintendent of Prairie View USD 362, told members of the Kansas State Board of Education during their October meeting that there have been fewer discipline issues since the district began serving scratch-made meals. 

“Especially in middle school,” she said, “because they’re not hungry. They’re eating the food now. We also have less food waste.” 

Johnson said “it’s been a 180 with our kitchen staff” who are “so happy” to be able to provide the homemade meals to the district’s students and staff members. 

“We’re cooking real food and it’s absolutely awesome," said Amy Sherman, Prairie View USD 362’s kitchen manager. “We’re going old school and making home, hearty meals that some of these kids haven’t had. Creativity is the main thing.” 

With several years of supporting local beef producers under her belt using the USDA’s Beef in Schools grant, Becky Shearer, director of food service for Morris County USD 417, can attest to the advantages of having a school meal program that incorporates as many homemade items as possible. She also reiterated the importance of having food service employees who feel valued for their experience, talents and their love for children. 

“I’m really proud of my staff,” she said. “It takes all of us to accomplish what we do here. My staff are complete rock stars.”   

The same maternal approach Shearer takes with her staff extends to the district’s students, which includes taking care of them with the scratch-made food made fresh every day.   

“I want them to feel safe,” she said. “I don’t want them to feel like they have to have money (to eat). Life is already hard. I just want them to eat.” 

Wollard, Johnson and Shearer spotlighted their districts’ food service programs during the Kansas State Board of Education’s October meeting as part of National Farm to School Month.